Occasionally Wright

American Dream?

Back in the day when I was taking full-time French training they kept telling us that we'd know when the French was taking when we started dreaming in French. Well, I dreamt in French but still didn't pass the final oral exam. Oh well.

My question is, if dreaming in French is a sign that you've learned the language, can you assume you're Americanized when the money in your dreams is all green? And don't give me any of that "people dream in black and white" nonsense. I dream in color all the time.

Times Have Changed

You know you're living in the digital age when you take a picture of a two-year old and as soon as you tell them they can move they run over to see the picture on the digital camera screen.

Imagine their confusion when the picture is taken on an "old" 35mm camera.

Does This Thing Still Work?

I really need to start writing more for fun instead of just writing for work.

Some assorted thoughts:

• $80 for a monthly transit pass in Charlottetown? Sure, I haven't been home since the system was built, but I'm pretty sure $80 is too much for a pass. Here in Atlanta a monthly pass for the rail and bus system is $52.50. In Ottawa, which has one of the best transit systems in the world, you pay $71.25 (about $10 more than I payed when I moved there in 2002).
• I love that daytime highs are already hitting 85 F and I love being a homeowner, but should my grass really be growing upwards of five inches in two weeks?
• Carpenter bees are a royal pain. They don't sting and they don't build big ugly nests like wasps, but they burrow in everything and they're tough to kill. And the noise they make as they burrow makes my skin crawl.
• All hockey fans should go to at least one NHL game at Madison Square Garden. They should do it with the knowledge that the atmosphere in the most historic remaining NHL rink is incredible. They should also do it with the fore-knowledge that MSG is a dimly lit dump with cramped concession areas and the worst ice in the NHL, hands down.
• One of these days I'm going to make a new banner for this site. As much as I love the current one it's time to let go of good ol' Byward Market. I guess that means cutting Frankie and Breck, unless I can get some pictures of them when I'm home this summer.

This and That

It's been way too long...

Things I've learned lately, and by lately I mean any time in the past year or so:

• Having a former mechanic for a father-in-law saves you a lot of money on car repairs.
• You think you'll miss snow, but you get over it pretty quick.
• 22 degree weather in late November is weird, but it's a nice weird.
• Thanksgiving in November is a good thing. Thanksgiving on a Thursday is a very good thing when it means you get a four-day weekend.
• Biscuits are a breakfast food. So is chicken, if it's served in a biscuit.
• It's easier than you think to type without all those extra u's.
• Keeping in touch with friends isn't so easy, but when you get reconnected with the good ones it's like you never missed a thing.
• It's shaping up to be a good year for my teams. Wake football, Wake basketball (relative to last year anyway), the Thrashers, the Hawks. It's all good.
• Immigration lawyers are worth every penny.
• North Carolina BBQ trumps all other BBQ, and Lexington BBQ trumps all other North Carolina BBQ.

Meanwhile, I'm looking for some good Christmas music. If you have a favorite Christmas cd feel free to let me know what it is. The only one I have is the "Noel" compilation that Mark Lee sent me two years ago.

Jobs Available

If you're looking for a career in Human Resources management and either live in Alberta or are looking to move there like everyone else in Canada, let me know. I actually know somebody trying to fill some good positions out there and they're having some trouble recruiting.

Now That's A Sweet Ride

They were there every Saturday night when I was in junior high and high school and I'd wager that they're still there today. Sitting in the Burger King parking lot or cruising the Avenue in their pimped out Monte Carlos and Caprice Classics.The serious ones had neon underlights and/or flashing neon around their license plates. They were the boys from Tignish, Souris and the far reaches of the Island who came down to the city to show the townies how it's done.

Actually, there were/are fairly serious rules about who was allowed to hang out in what parking lots around town, whether it was at BK, DQ, KFC or any other lots around town. At least that's what Miranda, the cafeteria girl at Kmart told me.

When I lived in Ottawa (Vanier to be exact) there was a sweet dark blue Monte Carlo a few doors down with velour seat covers, tinted windows and chrome rims.

Now that I'm down in Atlanta it's good to see that some things are universal. Monte Carlos and Caprice Classics are still the cars of choice to pimp out, although there's a fair number of Cadillacs too.

In the end, maybe it will be these classic cars that bring us all together.

Hodge Podge

With the start of the NHL and NBA playoffs I suddenly have all of my evenings and weekends free. I don't have enough stuff for a full fledged post, but here are some random things for you:

• Man I love Degrassi.12:00 am every Friday night. Sure, it's a season or so behind the one that's airing in Canada, but it's still good TV. Last week it had Jay and Silent Bob on it. This week it has Caitlin and Spike.
• If you're looking for more games to keep you busy at work, try these. If you can't kill time on that site you can't kill time anywhere.
• If you really want a challenge try Hapland. The first one is doable. The second and third? Pretty close to impossible without cheating.
• On Wednesday the team doctor said that a high pollen count is 125 on the scale. At the time Atlanta was registering 3000. Atlanta goes through this every spring for about six weeks. Everything gets covered in a layer of yellow pollen and people just pray for rain to wash it away every few days. Actually washing your car is a complete waste of time, though it was getting pretty hard to see through my windows until we got a few thunderstorms this week.
• Does anyone have more info about this? I can't imagine why anyone would make fun of The Guardian...
• I am now in the possesion of the greatest hockey stats book ever. You know all the trivia and statistics that broadcasters and pundits throw at you during every single playoff game? I have the book they get it from. Try to stump me with playoff trivia. I'll find the answer.

Accents

You can take the sportscaster out of Boston but you can't take Boston out of the sportscaster.

Thursday night the Thrashers played in Boston. Atlanta's regular TV play-by-play man is JP Dellacamera, who is best known as the voice of MLS (Major League Soccer). Though it's easy to tell that JP isn't from Atlanta I wouldn't have ever said he has a strongly identifiable accent of any sort, and that's the way most sportscasters are.

Until Thursday night when he called the Boston game. According to Wikipedia, JP is from Weltham, Mass. which is on the outskirts of Boston. As soon as the game started you could hear his accent thicken up. Think Freddy Quimby from the chowder episode of the Simpsons. It was most obvious when he was pronouncing certain names, like Marc Savard (which I get made fun of for saying with an accent all the time) and Glen Murray. By the middle of the game I think he'd become conscious of it and softened it up again, but it was loud and clear for the first half.

Speaking of accents, Catharine, who I mentioned earlier this week, now lives in Boston and she was concerned that she'd lost her Canadian accent. No worries there. While it's not super noticeable it's still there enough that I could hear it. It's weird how when you live in Canada you don't hear it, but as soon as you move away for a few moths you start hearing it when you talk to your own friends and family.

So True

Overheard in the office elevator:

"With all these people using earpieces for their cell phones, I can't tell who the crazies are anymore. Everyone looks like they're talking to themselves."

30 Seconds of Home

The Thrashers played the Columbus Blue Jackets last night and between periods in the press box I saw Doug MacLean, the Columbu general manager, walking towards me. Seeing as he's from PEI (Summerside to be exact) I introduced myself to him as a fellow Islander.

"Your a Wright, eh? Now what Wright family would that be? Who's your mom and dad?"

You can take the Islander off the Island but you can't take the Island out of the Islander. Nice guy... very chatty, seeing as it was a 1-1 game and I'm sure he had things to do and more important people to talk to.